States that were once moderate have been seized by the reactionary right. You see them gutting the social services and cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations. Going after unions. Religion is being pushed into education curriculum. History is being distorted to popularize the notion the United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy.
Then there's abortion. Women are being systematically stripped of their rights and access to health care and the decisions are being made for them. Conservative Christian beliefs disguised as concern for safety.
Then there's the idea if you can't win an election with ideas in the public arena you better keep those who reject your policies from voting. American Democratic ideals on display. I would guess we have abdicated all rights to bitch about any other Nation's electoral process.
So let's look in this basket full of crazy.
Texas. Senator Ted Cruz. Again. Why is it always Texas?
This latest chapter in the Ted Cruz run for the Presidency playbook was opened in a speech at The Heritage Foundation. Those two words warn us the reasonable quotient will be questionable. It was at the Jesse Helms lecture Series. My question is why does that even exist? And why would would any person spend actual money to attend?
Senator Cruz tells us that he made his first political donation to Jesse Helms at the age of ten. Ten dollars.
Now I love politics and have for a long time but at ten I would have used that money to buy comic books, scifi paperbacks and pulps. Even at ten i doubt Jesse Helms would have appealed to me. And that's when I was really young and stupid.
A refresher on who old Jesse was.
He was the longest serving Senator from North Carolina. He was an avowed segregationist. He opposed abortion. Jesse tried to stop Federal funded AIDS research since he said every case of AIDS starts with sodomy and was God's punishment on Homosexuals.Needless to say Jesse opposed Gay rights.
Helms repeatedly introduced a Constitutional Amendment to ban abortion. He introduced bills conferring human rights at conception. He can be called the father of the person hood movement. He tried to reinstate school prayer.
Helms filibustered the renewal of the Voting Rights Act and aligned with Strom Thurmond in opposing civil rights legislation. He also supported South Africa's embrace of apartheid.
Looking back at Senator Helms career you see positions that were extreme in the 70's and 80's. He was simply ahead of his time. Those positions are spouted by the reactionary right all the time now and no one blinks an eye. He was the last gasp of the blatant racist Southern Senator. They are less overt now.
At the Jesse Helms lecture Series Senator Cruz extolled the virtues of Ole Jesse.
He said we need a hundred Senator Helms in the Senate.
As an ardent admirer Senator Cruz is pulling pages from Helms' racist playbook.
Like Helms, Cruz despises gays. He says Gay marriage will silence Christians and expose them to being charged with hate crimes for expressing their views.
Like Jesse, Ted wants to cut SNAP and ban abortion.
Like Jesse, Ted is vocal about Republicans who disagree with him calling them members of "The Surrender Caucus".
Ted may be smoother but he holds Jesse Helms and his reactionary, racist views close. I don't think Ted realizes that as a Cuban he would not make it through Jesse's front door.
A question. Canada, what did we do to piss you off enough to give us Cruz? While I'm at it, the same query to Australia, re: Rupert Murdoch.
Now, my home State of Ohio.
Toni Morrison, an award winning author and Ohio Native found the head of The State Board Of Education wanting to ban one of her novels. Because it's pornographic
"The Bluest Eye", set in Loraine, Ohio is on the Common Core 11th Grade reading list. Why does Debe Terhar call this novel porno? It contains a rape scene. She doesn't want her grandchildren or anyone's to read it. I am not a fan of book banning. For any reason. I was opposed to some on the Left wanting to ban Twain for his racial language. That ignores he was very progressive for his time and upbringing. It ignores all historical context that makes his work such a wonder. It ignored his prose being among the best in the English language. There is never a reason to ban literature. Period.
Ms. Terhar, a hand picked appointee of Governor Kasich, also put up a post on Facebook comparing President Obama to Adolph Hitler after Sandy Hook. The reason? The tyranny of reasonable firearms regulation. Way to stay classy.
Ohio. Again.
JobsOhio, a public/private mutant that recommends tax breaks for business is sending a company HQ to Kentucky. Why? They sell romantic enhancements to women. So this is not a proper company for Ohio to support. But companies distributing Viagra and penis pumps are OK.
The City of Cincinnati, which once prohibited the sale of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, is pissed. See this company wants to relocate their Headquarters from the suburbs to Downtown Cincy. So the Kasich Administration, while touting their conservative credentials are taking flack from the most conservative city in Ohio. Over sex toys for women. Oops.
Missouri had their nullification of Federal gun laws vetoed. So much for nullification. That worked out so well in the 1860's. It would have put Federal officials at risk of arrest for enforcement of Federal Firearms laws. Had this stood, Missouri would have done a de facto secession. I'm pretty sure we settled this absurdity with the loss of 6000,000 lives during the Civil War. The GOP again rejects the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution. We can expect this to pop up again in Missouri and other States under the sway of the wacko right.
So, let's keep this insanity in mind when it's time to vote.
If you don't vote, don't bitch.
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